Matt talks Masters, Departures & Goodbyes

Toying with your emotions for the umpteenth time Matt Smith has insisted to the nation’s third favourite breakfast show Daybreak (right behind more sleep and BBC Breakfast) that he’s not about to give up the role of the Doctor anytime soon.

In a sneak preview of the full interview in the Radio Times Matt sounded a lot like a man considering his options:

“It’s a thrill playing the part I don’t want to give it up anytime soon. We have a whole season to make and a Christmas special as well, so I won’t be leaving anytime soon. We’ll get this season out the way and see where I’m at. I take it season by season and I take the job day by day because there’s no other way you can do it.”

What isn’t under contention is the departure of Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill which has made Matt again, consider his role in the grand history of Doctor Who:

“It is sad for me, she’s a great friend, and creatively I have a really interesting relationship with her and Arthur but the show is bigger than any of us.

It’s been going in 2013 for 50 years and it will continue way after me and so much of it is about change, and also you have to celebrate that and its about reinvention. And how wonderful that someone invented a concept where a show can change so much.”

So stop asking questions and start basking in the wonderfulness of it all!

With the 50th Anniversary looming rumours have already have surfaced that Sherlock himself Benedict Cumberbatch is about to take on the loony mantle of the Master. Matt, being a friend of Cumberbatch, has yet to hear anything about a potential return of the Doctor’s arch nemesis:

“I know Ben and I’ve not heard anything about it. But he’s a wonderful actor and a mate. I think he’s a bit busy being a Star Trek villain, and he’s Sherlock Holmes of course, so he’s a busy man.”

In yet another exploration of the concept Doctor Who will have its first official convention in March which will be graced by the presence Matt Smith who has already experienced the fastidious nature of Doctor Who fans:

“Their detail is actually more detailed than my detail! The fans have very clear opinions. I drove past a line of fans and I wound the window down and waved, and there was a little guy dressed as me in the tweed and the bow tie. It’s bizarre, but they’re not dressed as me, they’re dressed as the Doctor. He’s the one they like, I’m just his vessel.”

Everyone has a favourite Doctor and mine - just for his honesty, his fairness and his ability to not notice the Master's awful, awful disguises/anagrams (Sir Gilles Estram!?!) - has to be the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison. The stories didn’t serve him as well as his acting served those stories.